NORTHAMPTON -- Riding the waves of the music scene with skill and daring, Signature Sounds has surfed into downtown Northampton.

The local music label has outgrown its Whately offices, where it began 18 years ago, and plunked itself down in the middle of the city's thriving artist community.

With construction going on all around him in the label’s new 32 Masonic St. digs, owner Jim Olsen said he is happy to be downtown.

“We wanted to come and be in the center of the Northampton musical community,” he said.

Created in 1994, Signature Sounds produces, manufactures and distributes CDs and vinyl records for a stable of artists that includes Chris Smither, Winterpills, Joy Kills Sorrow. Some, like Smither and the members of Winterpills, make their homes hereabouts.

Olsen said Signature Sounds found its groove in folks and American roots music early and has been building on it ever since.

“We seek out artists whose music we really like,” he said.

The company has a recording studio in Connecticut. The Northampton site will house its offices along with a renovated space in the front of the building for retail and occasional performances.

Signature Sounds has turned out more than 120 albums to date. It also co-produces a number of Franklin County concerts and events, including the Green River Festival.